This is simply a journal of my food adventures, mainly in Vancouver, BC. Basically, a place for me to live out my long-time fantasy of being a restaurant reviewer. I hope that readers will find the reviews useful. I will include random bits about other foodie adventures like grocery and cookware shopping, cooking/baking projects, cooking classes, and eventually I’ll add a cartoon – The Adventures of Ha Gow, my little Chinese dim sum shrimp-filled dumpling dude. Foodies of the city, unite!

Thursday, October 13, 2005

The Five Cookbook Meme - Tag, You're It!

Linda, of Kayaksoup tagged me with this blogosphere version of a "chain letter" ages ago, and I've been meaning to get to it all this time. I was browsing around the net, and I found someone who actually researched, tracked and documented the history of this particular meme out of interest, just to see where it has been (and she wasn't even the one who started this meme)! If Ana of Pumpkin Pie Bungalow can do all that, then I can certainly just answer the 5 questions! Here are my long-awaited answers:

1. Total number of cookbooks owned: 34

2. Last cookbook I bought: John Bishop's Cooking at My House. A bargain found at a Book Warehouse. It's filled with recipes that look simple enough, and appealing enough for me to want to try, plus with nice little background notes on each, and photos for many. I love cookbooks with lots of photos of the food.

3. Last cookbook I read: Lately, I've been playing around with my Charlie Trotter's Desserts, trying to find a great dessert for an upcoming party. Great food porn, with beautiful photos of plated desserts with multiple components. I wasn't too happy with the tarts I made from recipes in the book so far, but I'll keep trying.

4. Five cookbooks that mean a lot to me:

- Larousse Gastronomique. More of an encyclopedia type reference book than a cookbook, but it is actually filled with lots of classic recipes. I just love being able to look up any cooking or food term that I might run across. On top of that, there's a lot of satisfaction in having found it in a bargain book store for a great price years ago.

- Salsas That Cook, by Rick Bayless. Sentimental reasons - given to me as a gift by someone who was thinking of me while in Chicago at Rick Bayless' restaurant and had the chef autograph it to me personally. Plus it's actually quite a fun cookbook, besides being a sweet gift. I know the question only asks for five, but I'll sneak another one in here too, Lumiere Light, by Rob Feenie is another cookbook gift I received from friends, adding to my cookbook collection.

- Goodhousekeeping Illustrated Cookbook - I keep coming back to this one, because it has all the basics, and the many recipes I've cooked from this book have been winners. Great step-by-step and finished product colour photos.

- Joy of Cooking - a classic with great information about ingredients, and how to deal with them. It was my first cookbook, as it has been for many, many people (including Linda who tagged me in the first place).

- Grand Finales, The Art of the Plated Dessert by Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty, with photos by John Uher, and Grand Finales, A Modernist View of Plated Desserts - Beautiful photos of amazing dessert art. I just love browsing through these two.

5. Which 5 people would you most like to see fill this out in their blog?Okay, here are some Vancouver foodies. Consider yourself all tagged. For all of you, please feel free to ignore the "tag" or participate as you wish. Have fun if you do!

About Me

Okay, here is where I'm going to put my current favourite Vancouver restaurant, any category, any price range, absolute best experience. This will change from time to time. Jan 2005: Guu with Garlic, off Robson street. I think you can get a good idea of my taste from this pick. Generally, I like places that give me good value - even the most expensive restaurants can make me feel like I got my money's worth. I like trying ethnic foods, and I like independent small businesses more than I like dining in chain restaurants. My priorities are the food and the service, but I love decor and atmosphere as well. I have many moods, and like a lot of diverse types of restaurants and will try to give you an idea of what situations each restaurant would be best for. I also welcome hearing about your food experiences, so please reply to my posts! Oct 2005: Yuji's. With only two visits so far, my new fav restaurant is yet another Japanese small plates place. Having exhausted most of the menu at Guu, I am now moving on to working my way through Yuji's menu on West 4th Ave. at Maple. Nov 2006: Rare (1355 Howe St.) for the whole package.